Work First Employment

Work First Employment Services assists with training, work experience and supportive casework services to enable Work First Family Assistance recipients to become self-sufficient and self-supporting. This program is administered by the Buncombe County Social Work Services.

Work is required for families on welfare. Work First is based on the premise that parents have a responsibility to support themselves and their children. Through Work First, parents can get short-term training and families can get childcare assistance and other services to help them become self-sufficient, but ultimately the responsibility is theirs, and most families have two years to move off welfare. In any given months, depending on how many families come into the system, how long they stay and how many leave, the number of families on welfare rises or falls.

Recognizing this, Work First emphasizes three strategies:

1. Diversion:
Keeping families off welfare by helping them cope with unexpected emergencies or setbacks. Under Work First, qualifying families can get up to three months worth of cash Diversion Assistance, childcare, Food Stamp benefits and Medicaid, if they stay off welfare.

2. Work:
Shortening the length of time that families are on welfare by making work mandatory and by limiting how long a family can receive cash assistance. To receive Work First benefits, parents must register with the First Stop Employment Assistance Program, sign a Mutual Responsibility Agreement, and once they move into the phased-in work requirement, they can continue to receive benefits for up to 24 months. Families reaching the 24-month limit cannot reapply for welfare for three years.

3. Retention:
Helping families that leave welfare to stay off by encouraging them to save and by helping to maintain permanent employment.

The Goal of Work First:

The philosophy of Work First is that “All people have the responsibility to their families and their communities to work and provide for their children.”
The goal of Work First is to assist able-bodied applicants in becoming self- sufficient by securing full-time employment as quickly as possible. The program supports self-sufficiency by:

Promoting Work

Requiring Personal Responsibility

Helping Families Get and Keep a Job

Locating Absent Parents

If there are two parents, a stepparent or the father/mother of one of your children in the home, each of you must complete a separate WFFA Documentation Workbook and both are required to attend when you see your eligibility worker.

The following information is required of all applicants and will be needed to help determine your eligibility. Please bring the following:

Proof of US Citizenship, Identity and State Residency (see attached)

Social Security Cards

Current Wages! Check Stubs

Bank Account information

Report Abuse

Do you suspect abuse?To make an adult or child protective services report any time, day or night, call the numbers below: